The Art of Trouble

Chapter 11: His and Her Circumstances

Lucy and Lameria had talked for like a few hours and their conversation had truly drained the blonde mage. She walked along the aisle towards her room, shoulders sagged and legs wobbled a little from tiredness. From that point, she didn't think of anything but, sleep.
She already got to the area near her room, yet suddenly she paused the moment she saw a body of a man she recognized, sitting idly on the floor.

Gray sounded unbelievably asleep in his current position. His head was dangled sideways, with only his shoulder supporting it. His knee was bent high, while the other was somehow sprawled on the floor. From Lucy's view, he looked like a mess, and she felt uneasy about it.

"What's happening here?"  She wondered, as she tried to draw her body towards the ice mage. As soon as she felt his body getting closed, panic emerged at the back of her mind when she touched his body. It was cold as an ice, however, the jittery feeling she had was soon gone after realizing that it was just normal for him to have this kind of temperature, probably because, he's an ice mage. Then, she decided to bring him back to his consciousness.

"G-Grayyy..." Lucy said and shook him gently. "Wake-up, go back to your room." She hissed, while gripping his shoulders.
Gray only made a slight quiver upon his friend's act. He mumbled something incoherent, puffing out some air. This made Lucy realized, he was drunk. The smell of alcohol lingered around his space bubble, and she was annoyed with the thought of him drinking at times like this. It was so unlike him. Still holding his shoulders, she pushed and pulled him harder until half of his body slipped off, awakening him by surprise.

"Uh... Lu..." He was in a dazed when he woke up that he couldn't say anything. Both were still on the floor, not talking to each other. Then, Lucy began to break off.
"What in the world are you thinking, Gray? You had been drinking!..."
The ice mage managed to ignore his friend's angry tone. Part of him could say, his numbness has really something to do with the alcohol in his system.

"Loke... H-He invited me for some drinks... I-I thought, he alrready left..." He inhaled a deep breath and rubbed his temples with both hands, before talking once again. His eyes were now at Lucy's but not in a gaping manner. "I came to see you right after you left back there. I thought you were already in your room..." Gray instantly sounded shy when he said the last few words. Lucy noticed this behavior and wondered if she was just hallucinating.
"I-I decided to return to the balcony and it turned out that Loke was still there, and he had liquor with him. I'm s...sorry." Gray was truly apologetic and this made Lucy a bit guilty for yelling at him. This guy had been carrying some burden for quite sometime now, and he only wanted to stay strong, emotionally and physically. The celestial mage had truly understand him, after what Lameria had just told her.
Like a book, Lameria told her from the beginning until the end; well, not really the end, but till today, where she has been already in the picture. She didn't also missed to tell her how it had been difficult for Gray to keep the truth from her.
Lucy was even told about Natsu, which caused her to break down in the middle of their conversation. Apparently, her dear friend was separated from them after their first attempt to penetrate the kingdom. According to Lameria, a massive air had attacked them straight off, and eventually sucked them like a vacuum. Lameria had struggled, but managed to counter the attack and luckily saved them from it. She drove themselves away from the place. However, they all realized that they were all saved, except one. It was the blue creature, that I thought was mythical. Lucy remembered those exact words from the woman, and she trembled in horror.
Happy, the cat, which is actually an exceed may be annoying at times but she cares for him like how she cares for her celestial pet, Plue. Apart from that, she knows how Natsu has been,every time something bad happens to him. That's why, when Lameria told her that Natsu went back to the kingdom to look for Happy, she wasn't surprised anymore; yet, this didn't stop her from worrying. Natsu is after all, her best friend, and he had been there for her during hard times, she could've done the same now. She wanted to comfort Natsu and to be with him when he looks for his exceed friend. However, she couldn't find him. Even Lameria and Gray couldn't do it. It was a reckless thing to do. That was what Lameria told her and she understood the matter. They couldn't let the mad king know about Fairy tail. It was up to Natsu's own risk, so much for a good thing  to say, but it is what it is.
Then, Lucy began to think of the guy in front of her. She gave herself a couple of seconds to stare at him. This had been one of a few times that she gave him a sympathetic look. Based on what Lameria relayed to her, there was a time when she caught Gray, on his knees and crying. He had probably been keeping his worries and frustrations to himself and that, whenever he's alone he would just let them all off.
Lucy had been in deep thought for quite a while, and it startled her when Gray moved to bring himself up. He limped heavily as he began to move and the blonde immediately went near him to give him assistance.
"You have to be careful." She said this as soon as she was about to bring one of his arms to her shoulders. They walked directly towards Gray's cabin.

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The moment when both were already inside Gray's abode, Lucy hardly settled him down on his bed. He was heavy, a little heavier than Natsu, whom she had been used to do an assist to walk whenever he's weak to do it for himself, like when he's in a transportation. Lucy sighed a deep breath, then adjusted his feet prior to taking his shoes off. It was the least she could do to him at the moment.
Subsequently, seconds passed and Lucy decided to move out of his room after examining him a little.
She had now opened the door when he heard a sound from the ice mage.
"Don't go, please..."
Gray was lying restlessly on his bed, he only raised his head a little to look at her. From the way Lucy saw it, the area around his bed was dim, yet, the desperation  from his eyes was clear enough, and right then,  both of their circumstances were fathomed by her, and with all the hardships they had encountered and will encounter, and whatever each of their motives had for every situation, deep inside, she knew that both of them should be strong, and
         they both should rely on one                another...

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Hello everyone!
  I was so excited to release a new  chapter that I didn't mind checking everything. So, forgive me for some errors (I'm gonna edit them, no worries ;) ), and for some confusions, I'll let you know the next chapter, so stay tuned!:)
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